Hard White

by Shannon Holmes

  The revelation dropped like a building on top of India. Wanting to nullify the caller’s claim, she steadied herself from the blow.

  “Melquan is doing what? Who is this calling me with this nonsense? I mean you could just be calling me to get me mad. You might just be playing with my mind. He’s always home with me. That incident was at least a couple months ago. Anyway, how did you get my number?”

  “One of the many nights your so-call man spent at my house. It was one night when I put his ass to bed, you kept calling, annoying us, and I copied your number from his cellphone.”

  India’s anger was boiling so hot, her skin itched. She felt her stomach rapidly twisting into a knot. Frozen to ground, she suddenly felt like urinating, but her feet felt heavy, and perspiration broke out all over body.

  “You alright…?”

  “How long have you known Melquan, and how long have this been going on?” India asked, wanting badly to hear the full story.

  “Since way back in high school me and Melquan been on and off. You see, he always have a lot of chicks and I just couldn’t be bothered chasing his fine ass around. Then we got back together on some business tip, and all our feelings started coming back. On and off, I’d say we’ve been in each other’s lives about four to five years now. So I’d say that’s a very, very long time…”

  “Alright thanks. I don’t want to hear no more, please!” India quickly said.

  “Well I figure that I would just call you and let you know, he dogged me. And he’s gonna dog ya ass too!”

  “Really now…? Listen up little girl, whatever Melquan did to you, you allowed it to happen. You never called my number when everything was all good. So please don’t call with the bullshit now!”

  India was about to end the call, but even with the phone some distance from her ear, she could hear Precious’ ranting. India put the cellphone back to her ear and listened.

  “Bitch, you don’t have to be all nasty about it. Ain’t nothin’ personal. I was just callin’ to let you know, the man you claimin’ is a damn, two-timin’ ho!”

  “Bitch, it takes one to know one. So you should know! Goodbye!”

  India was way past any further conversation with the caller. Precious was still screaming when India pressed end call. She wanted to see Melquan in the worse way, and hear his version.

  India was an emotional wreck and threw down the phone so hard, the battery case fell apart. She paced around the kitchen, wandering into the living room. India walked back and bent down, picking up the pieces of her cellphone.

  She attempted to put the battery back into the instrument, but a task she had performed before, seemed almost impossible for the first time. She stared at the cellphone, struggling to put it back together. The heavy tears clouding her eyes wouldn’t let her.

  It was late when Melquan entered the darkened apartment. He shuffled through the place without pausing to turn on any of the lights. There was enough illumination provided by the city lights shining through the large living room window. Melquan walked directly to bedroom expecting to find India asleep. He was surprised when he got there, and didn’t see her.

  Melquan checked in on Zach. He was still up playing videogames. The boy turned around and devilishly smiled, knowing he wasn’t supposed to be up at this time.

  “What you doin’ up? It’s way past your bedtime… You better get some sleep. Where’s your mother?”

  “She’s asleep on the couch.”

  “Why’s she sleeping out there?”

  “I dunno…”

  “A’ight, thanks.”

  Melquan walked back to the living room and stood over India, studying her beautiful face for a couple beats. A smile creased his lips. Their lovelife was finally coming together. He stared out at the city’s skyline, now he had attained a kingdom, Melquan wanted to build a palace for India, Zach, and himself. Melquan was thinking how much he was going to miss this view when he heard India stirring.

  “Hey baby, get up. C’mon, let’s take a shower together and go to bed,” Melquan suggested with a smile.

  “No, I’m very good just right where I am, Melquan. I don’t want to sleep in the same bed with you anymore.”

  Melquan was taken aback by India’s curt response. He looked at her seeking the humor of it all. Something had to be there to laugh about.

  “Where’s all this attitude comin’ from, India?”

  “Hmm, maybe we should ask your lil’ project ho, name Precious,” India deadpanned.

  “Precious…? Who da fuck is a Precious. This some kinda joke or sumthin…? I don’t know no Precious!”

  “Really now…? Playing dumb ain’t getting you out of this one, Melquan. So for once come clean, and please don’t start lying again.”

  “India, you trippin’ right now! Lemme find out somebody been feedin’ you some bullshit ‘bout me!”

  “Really now…? Melquan, please don’t try my patience. You’re such a liar! Precious is the bitch who was sitting between your legs on the bench that day. You lied about then and you still lying now. Who was she to you then? Please don’t try that shit again.”

  “India, I don’t know where you be gettin’ your insane ideas from. But you, you’re buggin’ for real!”

  “So are you denying even knowing a girl named Precious, let alone sleeping with her, huh?”

  “What? you ain’t heard da first time? I told you, I don’t know no Precious, a’ight?”

  “When I kicked your ass out, didn’t you go running over to her place?”

  Melquan couldn’t get a word in, and he let India get whatever she had off her chest. He stared at her and waited for what was coming.

  “Don’t even try that my-poor-little-ghetto-story bullshit, on me. No, Melquan amnesia will not get you off this time.”

  “So come straight and say what it is…”

  “Precious called my cellphone this evening. She told me she got the number that night when I kicked you out and you were at her place. She said and I quote, she had put you to bed,” India said, raising both index fingers. “I remember very well, calling and calling and you asleep. So my calls disturbed your project princess, and she said she wrote my number down…”

  Melquan stared at her in disbelief. She returned his stare, studying his reaction. Melquan was ice cold and never gave anything away.

  “Oh, you’re really buggin’ now. First of all, I don’t know no Precious, and now I’m beginnin’ to think that you’re makin’ this whole thing up to start a fight. You just want a fight cuz you fuckin’ insecure, India.”

  She stared at him with a smirk like she was looking for sympathy. Her eyes were clouded with dark sorrow of knowing when he was lying. This was leading her in a state of total confusion. She still loved Melquan that was the reason this incident hurt so much. India started crying, wallowing in her self pity.

  India had feared the street life would come knocking on her door. She didn’t know what would be next. First, someone called her cellphone and told her a story that was threatening to ruin her love relationship. The thing that bothered India was that she was now ready to believe the caller’s story. She realized that there was some truth to it.

  “Melquan, you’ve lied to me so many times. I don’t really know whether I’m capable of believing you anymore. You’ve cheated before on me…”

  “C’mon India, now whenever sumthin happens you gonna have to bring up the past, right? Let what happened stay in the past. We fuckin’ arguin’ ’bout some unknown broad… Some broad I don’t even fuckin’ know…”

  She listened carefully hoping Melquan would slip, but he never changed his story. His denial unequivocal, he claimed not to know this person. India kept wondering why she couldn’t believe what he was saying.

  “I’ve been putting up with your shit for a long time now, Melquan. If it ain’t one thing then it’s another. If I knew you were going to shit on me the way you have, I would never let you in my life.”

  “Honey, c’mon…”
Melquan said, reaching out to hold India.

  She wiggled free and they were apart again. He could tell by her stance that she was fed up. He tried to hug her again.

  “Get off, please, Melquan…” she cried. “Please, please, Melquan do not touch me, right now.”

  “I guess you gonna kick me out, now. Do you want me out, India?”

  “Did I say anything about that…?”

  “I’m just sayin’ that’s usually what comes next, right?”

  “Melquan, if you want to leave then fine. I didn’t say anything about that.”

  “Yeah, but you were actin’ all crazy and shit. And when you ain’t sayin’ too much that means you gettin’ ready to blow your top off on a muthafucka…”

  “It isn’t always about you, Melquan. I’m having a moment right now. I just need my space… So please, you’re welcome to stay if want to. Nobody is forcing you…”

  India turned her back and walk away leaving Melquan with his thoughts. Precious, Precious, Precious, she kept running through his mind.

  Justice hugged and kissed his mother before leaving her apartment. She walked him to the door. Placing her hand on his unshaven cheek, she smiled.

  “Boy your face is rough. You need to shave before you go to look for work,” she said.

  “That’s tomorrow, ma. I’ll shave then,” Justice said.

  “Boy don’t be no stranger. Stop by and see me more often. You know I’m getting older and tomorrow ain’t promised.”

  “Ma, don’t talk like that. You know I don’t like it when you do that… That’s crazy talk. You ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

  “Yeah boy, I wish. But when the Lord calls me I gots to go… Just like everybody else. What makes me so special?”

  “There you go, ma… Do me one favor. If the Lord calls when I leave, promise me that you won’t pick up the phone, okay?” Justice said, kissing his mother goodbye.

  He waved and left the building. Outside, he jumped into a waiting car and they peeled off.

  “Yo, what took you so long, Just?” the driver asked.

  “It’s the old-earth, man. I had to show respect. I couldn’t just eat and run. Just drive, and let’s go pick up them guns,” Justice said.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Been About Money

  Miss Tina was out late on the town and was just getting in. She got out of her ride and dressed in low form fitting skirt and a black butter soft leatherjacket that showed off her ample breasts.

  “Girl, you ain’t aged one bit. You still fine as ever,” Charlie Rock declared.

  “Stop it Charlie,” she gushed, smiling she acknowledged the compliment. “I tell you a thing or two Charlie Rock, you’re too much. You’re too damn much.”

  Charlie Rock bit his lower lip and openly gawked at Miss Tina. With extra sashay in her hips, she seductively strolled by. He couldn’t help but reminisce over their brief relationship a long time ago.

  Miss Tina entered her building and quickly walked up the stairs. Her high heels were beginning to hurt, so she took them off. She rushed down the hallway to her apartment door.

  Two men with their backs pressed up against the wall, silently stalked her. When she passed them, they eased out of the stairwell, preparing to strike.

  Miss Tina placed her key in the lock cylinder, and unlocked the door. Two men pounced on her, bumrushing her apartment door. She was tackled from behind and two gun toting thugs, barged inside. Miss Tina fell on the floor face first. She recovered just in time to see one thug bearing down on her, and the other closing the door.

  Miss Tina was a little woozy from the fall. She was so scared to death, she didn’t even wince.

  “Ah… What y’all want with me, huh?” Miss Tina shrieked. “What’s going on? Why are y’all doing this?”

  “Bitch you already know what it is! Just shut da fuck up before you fuck aroun’ and turn it into a homicide,” the gunman said, waving his gun.

  Miss Tina watched both gunmen quickly walking through the apartment. One gunman checked inside the bathroom, both bedrooms and the kitchen. The other kept an eye on Miss Tina. Once the coast was clear Justice reached down and snatched Miss Tina off the floor by her hair.

  “I don’t know what y’all doing…?”

  “Bitch, I don’t told ya, shut your fuckin’ mouth! One more word outta you and I’ll personally shoot you,” the gunman growled, holding the gun to her head.

  “My son ain’t—”

  Miss Tina was moving slowly, and the gunman smacked her upside her head with his weapon.

  “Bitch, I already know ya son ain’t here,” he said, pushing her down in a chair. “I need to know where he is.”

  Miss Tina was not able to think clearly and wanted the whole thing to end quickly as possible.

  “Bitch, you taking too wid da fuckin answers… That means you lyin’. Where’s ya bitch-ass son, lady?”

  “I don’t know?” Miss Tina answered in a cooperative tone. “Take anything you want. Please, leave me alone.”

  “Where your son keep da dough and da drugs…?” Justice demanded.

  “In his room… There’s a Nike box filled with money. Look in the closet. Take it and go, please.”

  “Stay right there with her if she so much as breathe too hard, clap her!”

  “Please don’t shoot me! I’ll behave.”

  The gunman snatched Miss Tina up off the floor and threw her roughly into the chair. Miss Tina sat paralyzed by her fear, trying her best not to make eye contact. She feared that the gunmen might try to kill her to protect their identity. The other gunman returned with the shoebox filled with cash.

  “Ol’ head, you don’t look too bad,” the gunman smiled, lecherously admiring Miss Tina’s body. “You lucky I ain’t into takin’ pussy like that. That ain’t my M.O. But if I was doin’ that, you could certainly get it. Ha, ha.”

  The gunman let out a sinister laugh that sent chills down Miss Tina’s spine. She didn’t know if he would act on his animalistic impulses. This kind of talk seriously disturbed her.

  “Stop lookin’ scared, bitch. I don’t wanna fuck you,” Justice roared. “But you tell that bitch-ass son of yours, he next!”

  On the way out the apartment, he bashed her in the head with the butt of his weapon, and stepped over Miss Tina’s unconscious body. They used the urine soaked stairway as an escape out the building, disappearing into the dead of a dark project’s night.

  A woozy Miss Tina awoke an hour later. She was lying on the floor with an intense migraine headache. Struggling to get to her feet, Miss Tina’s legs were rubbery, and she collapsed on the sofa. Miss Tina reached for the house phone that sat on a nearby coffee table. Her first instinct was to dial Melquan. She dialed her son’s cellphone, but it went straight to his voicemail. Melquan had turned his phone off for the night. Miss Tina tried repeatedly called, but only got his outgoing message.

  She was so angry that she hung up without leaving a message. Unable to reach her son, Miss Tina dialed for Mike Copeland.

  “Mike…” Miss Tina blurted into the phone. “I need you to get in touch with Melquan. I been robbed!”

  “What?” Mike barked. “Where are you…? I’ll be right there.”

  Mike Copeland was the first to arrive at Miss Tina’s apartment. He had already alerted Melquan to the situation by calling India’s home phone. Melquan was on his way. The door was still slightly ajar when Mike Copeland entered the ransacked place.

  “Hey yo, Miss Tina?” Mike called out. His weapon was drawn. “Miss Tina…?”

  “Mike, I’m in the living room.”

  Mike walked into the apartment gun in hand as if he were expecting to be ambushed. Once he saw the faint Miss Tina slumped down in the chair, he put his weapon away and rushed to her aide.

  “Miss Tina, you okay? Who did this to you? How it happened?” Mike Copeland bombarded Miss Tina with questions.

  “Mike, I don’t know,” she said. “Where’s Melquan? How come he ain’t here, yet?�
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  Mike did all he could to calm Miss Tina. He tried to aid her with the knot she had on the back of her skull. It wasn’t enough. Miss Tina demanded to know why her son wasn’t there. Why he wasn’t the first person to come rushing through the door, and to her aide? Why he wasn’t there to protect her from harm?

  There were many questions swimming in her still aching head, Miss Tina was in a foul mood by the time Melquan arrived. He entered the apartment and everyone went silent.

  “Oh, there you are!” Miss Tina erupted. “It took you long enough. I coulda been dead and you wouldn’t have known it if it wasn’t for Mike. Thank God for him.”

  “Ma, wha’ happen?” Melquan asked, his voice straining with emotion.

  Miss Tina cut him off. “Don’t ma me. Do you know anyone who could’ve done this…?”

  “I was about to ask you the same question,” he said, getting closer to her. “Did you get a good look at their faces? Whoever did this is fuckin’ dead! You hear me?”

  “Melquan, see what you caused. This is all your damn fault. Take all your shit, the cars, the money, the clothes, and get out of my house, please!”

  “But ma—”

  “I wish I never had you! Them niggas came up in my apartment with guns looking for you. And you wasn’t even here to protect me. They could’ve killed me and then what…?”

  The question rang and Mike Copeland walked out leaving Melquan alone with his mother. He was surprised by her outburst, but she was still his mother. Miss Tina looked away from him after holding his stare.

  “How many of them was it, mom?”

  “There must’ve been like two of them. They came up behind me, outta nowhere. They took all that money… They acted like they wanted to take my life. It’s all because of you, Melquan.”

  “But ma, it’s not my fault.”

  “It’s your fault. You the drug dealer not me…!”

  “C’mon ma…”

  “Take all that shit back, Melquan. I’m through with you. The cars, the money, the clothes… Ain’t none of that shit worth dying for. I can’t do it, Melquan. I can’t live like this no more!”